Supervisors: Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D. and Alvaro Q. Barriga, Ph.D, and Ashley Dandridge, Ph.D.
The Center for Traumatic Stress for Children and Adolescents (CTSCA) is a specialty clinical-research program for children, adolescents, and their families who have experienced traumatic life events. Interns completing a major rotation through CTSCA will receive training in evaluating traumatized children and in two treatments that have been developed at the Center: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and CBT for Children with Traumatic Grief.
Interns that choose a major rotation through CTSCA will be given the opportunity to provide therapy to patients between the ages of 3 and 18 who have experienced some type of trauma, including, but not limited to, sexual abuse, physical abuse, the traumatic and/or unexpected death of a loved one, natural disaster, and/or serious medical conditions. The intern will ideally carry a caseload of 8-9 clients and will receive one hour of scheduled supervision per week with additional supervision as needed. The CTSCA is extensively engaged in the scientific and empirical development and evaluation of culturally sensitive assessments and intervention with children who have experienced traumatic stress. Faculty provide modeling in the scientist-practitioner approach to clinical activity and interns are encouraged to participate in research, as appropriate based upon their level of experience and career interest.
Special Prerequisites: Prior to being allowed to complete a major CTSCA rotation, interested interns are required to have completed a graduate-level course in developmental psychopathology, complete a rotation specific interview with the training faculty and also the online TF-CBT training at https://tfcbt2.musc.edu.
CTSCA Goals:
Supervisor: Hilary Rushton, Psy.D.
As part of this rotation, interns obtain experience in the Adult Trauma-Focused Partial Hospitalization Program where they will work with a comprehensive treatment team, including a licensed psychologist, attending psychiatrist, psychiatric residents, psychiatric nurses, and possible psychology graduate practicum students. We serve acute psychiatrically ill adult patients (ages 20+) presenting with a history of trauma, including physical, emotional, interpersonal, sexual, attachment, and medical trauma or other victimization, who are also presenting with severe psychiatric symptoms and mood disorders, including depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, and dissociative disorders. This program takes a trauma-informed, integrative approach to stabilization, focusing on applying a trauma-focused lens to all treatment interventions. It uses tenants of evidence-based models, including CBT, DBT, STAIRS, ACT, CPT, mindfulness, and group process interventions, as well as alternative modalities (e.g., expressive therapies). The TF-PHP program serves the Pittsburgh area and treats patients with a range of diverse backgrounds, identities, and clinical concerns.
The intern will gain experience conducting comprehensive biopsychosocial evaluations and facilitating group psychotherapy in a culturally sensitive and affirming manner. Interns gain experience with both skills and process therapy groups. In addition, interns will participate with a multi-disciplinary treatment team and gain an understanding of the interplay between intensive group psychotherapy and assertive medication management of the acutely ill psychiatric patient. As part of the developmental perspective on training, interns will participate in a three stage supervision plan, beginning with observation of the supervisor, co-leading with the supervisor and progression to the supervisor moving to observation of the intern with supervision feedback immediately following the group.
Adult Trauma-Focused Partial Hospitalization Program Goals:
Supervisors: Hollie Dean-Hill, Psy.D., Matthew Page, Ph.D., ABN, Victoria-Maria Sekunda, Psy.D., ABN, Chi Chan, Psy.D.
The 6-month major rotation in neuropsychology is for interns who are pursuing board-eligibility in clinical neuropsychology in order to meet APA Div. 40 Houston Guidelines. This track is for interns with extensive training in neuropsychology prior to internship. Interns who want some exposure to clinical neuropsychology in order to become more well-rounded practitioners are able to complete a year-long minor rotation in neuropsychology. This major rotation will prepare interns for competitive candidacy for neuropsychology post-doctoral fellowship programs. Interns on the advanced track will see a wider variety of clinical cases through both the medical inpatient consult and liaison (C&L) service at Allegheny General Hospital and through the PBHI. Advanced neuropsychology trainees will also be expected to take a more in-depth role with the clinical interview process, test selection, test administration, and report writing consummate with their experience.
The initial stage of the rotation involves careful consideration of the intern’s prior coursework and practicum experiences with standardized assessment more broadly and neuropsychology specifically. Based on the intern’s prior experiences and his/her career objectives for what populations and practice setting he/she desires, an individualized training plan is developed in order to shape the rotation. At different points in training, interns are provided live observation during their training either by neuropsychology post-doctoral fellows and/or faculty members, depending on the supervisor. Interns receive extensive feedback on all aspects of the evaluation process toward preparing the intern for future independent practice.
Hospital Inpatient C&L: Depending on the specific supervisor and the intern’s individual training plan, interns are able to assist with conducting neuropsychological evaluations as part of a consult and liaison (C&L) service for medical inpatients in a level-1 trauma hospital. Approximately 60% of the patients present with traumatic brain injuries, while the remaining cases involve cerebrovascular accidents, hydrocephalus, seizure disorders, pre-/post-surgical evaluations, pre-/post-organ transplant evaluations, medical decision making capacity evaluations, and other acute medical events. These are brief (< 60”) bedside evaluations for acutely ill patients and trains interns in the rapid consult model within an interdisciplinary medical setting.
Outpatient Neuropsychology: All interns will assist with completing comprehensive outpatient neuropsychological evaluations who are referred to the department for a wide-variety of psychiatric and neurocognitive problems, including, but not limited to, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs), seizure disorders, genetic disorders, progressive neurocognitive disorders, and intellectual disabilities, pervasive developmental disabilities. Depending on the supervisor, interns may gain experience assessing individuals across the lifespan from approximately 6 years of age to 100+ years of age.
Tiered-Supervision: After the intern has demonstrated foundational knowledge and skill in neuropsychological assessment, each intern will provide tiered assessment supervision to graduate practicum students or interns completing the minor rotation in neuropsychology under the ultimate supervision of the intern’s faculty supervisor. This opportunity allows the advanced intern to begin developing and honing his/her own supervisory style in preparing for future independent practice. The intern’s supervision will include a discussion of different supervision theoretical models, the opportunity for role-playing, live observation of the tiered-supervision provided by the intern, and discussion regarding common ethical challenges that can occur in supervisory relationships.
Neuropsychology Rotation Goals:
Adult Outpatient Supervisors: Lori Siegel, PhD., Marisa Panucci-Polas, PsyD., Richard Withers, PhD., Lorelei Simpson-Rowe, PhD., Sarah Paul, PsyD., Grace Geidgowd, PhD.
Child Outpatient Supervisors: Richard Withers, Ph.D., Alvaro Barriga, Ph.D.
As part of the training year, all interns will carry a caseload of at least 4-6 lifespan psychotherapy patients in the outpatient clinic. These cases are part of the intern’s year-long outpatient caseload requirement and serve to ensure the intern has sufficient exposure to a breadth of presenting problems and is able to develop at least basic-level competencies in providing therapy to children, adolescents, and adults.
Adult Outpatient Treatment Goals:
Child Outpatient Treatment Goals:
Supervisors: Alyssa Stiver, PsyD & Amanda Traficante, Ph.D.
The internship offers a major rotation in psychological assessment through the PBHI for interns seeking to develop expertise in assessing for autism, ADHD, and learning disorders in children and adolescents. During this rotation, interns will gain experience with administering and scoring the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2) under the direct supervision of the supervising psychologist. This training experience is well-suited for interns who would like to specialize in evaluating and diagnosing common childhood disorders, including ADHD, anxiety, and mood-related concerns. This rotation provides specialization in diagnostic evaluation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disorders. In this setting, interns will be exposed to a variety of presenting problems in children ages 6-21 without medical complexity who present for diagnostic assessment. Interns will also gain experience with the administration of other standardized tests that measure intellectual functioning, academic achievement, learning, attention, executive functioning, behavioral functioning, and personality functioning. At the completion of the training year, interns will have the skills to complete an initial diagnostic interview, administer objective, standardized assessments, write integrated reports, and communicate diagnostic findings to families.
Prerequisites: Interns must demonstrate previous experience with testing children and adolescents (e.g., competence with administering the WISC-V, WAIS-IV, WIAT-4, and WJ tests). Prior ADOS-2 training and exposure is preferred but not required.
Child and Adolescent Assessment Major Rotation Goals:
Supervisors: Kimberly Fleming, PhD, Matthew Iwaniec, PsyD, Kathryn Shevchik, PhD, and Leah Russell-Flaherty, PsyD
This rotation is primarily located at West Penn Hospital (WPH) within the AHN Psychiatric and Behavioral Health Institute, although there may be an infrequent need to travel to off-site locations for some clinical experiences (e.g., heart transplant evaluations at AGH). The primary goal of the rotation is to provide clinical health psychology training within an academic medical setting. Clinical Health Psychology is a specialty that is dedicated to the development of knowledge regarding the interface between behavior and health, and to the delivery of high quality services based on that knowledge to individuals, families, and health care systems. Interns choosing this minor rotation will have flexibility to choose among the listed training opportunities to find a combination that provides the best fit with their training experiences and career goals.
Training Opportunities
Supervisors: Hollie Dean-Hill, PsyD., Matthew Page, PhD., ABN, Victoria-Maria Sekunda, PsyD., ABN, Chi Chan, PsyD.
A minor rotation in neuropsychological assessment was developed for interns aiming to be psychologists with more comprehensive diagnostic testing experience. Interns will engage in test selection, administration, interpretation, and report-writing in an outpatient setting, under the supervi
